Fidelity and Credit Suisse to offer investors and advisors greater access to IPOs

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Fidelity’s brokerage clients now have the opportunity to participate in initial public offerings (IPOs) and follow-on equity offerings underwritten by Credit Suisse.

The agreement expands Credit Suisse’s potential investor base to Fidelity’s retail brokerage customers, as well as investors who work with advisors through Fidelity’s registered investment advisor (RIA), correspondent broker/dealer and family office clients.

“With the increase in IPO activity over the past year and the potential for growth in the IPO market over the next few years, this new agreement with one of the industry’s leading underwriters will provide our clients with more opportunities to participate in new issue equity deals,” says Brian Conroy, president of Fidelity Capital Markets, Fidelity’s institutional trading arm. “The agreement with Credit Suisse, which ranks number two in market share for US-listed IPOs, is a continuation of our focus on leveraging our scale to offer our clients broader access to the IPO market, typically only accessible for larger institutional investors.”

A 2013 Fidelity survey of 2,500 affluent and high-net-worth clients indicated that they had significant interest in IPOs. More than 50 per cent of those surveyed currently buy or are open to investing in IPOs.

“This agreement will benefit Credit Suisse’s corporate clients by giving them direct access to Fidelity’s vast investor base, allowing issuers to capture demand for IPOs and follow-ons from the broadest possible segment of the market,” says David Hermer, head of equity capital markets in the Americas region for Credit Suisse. “The arrangement complements our industry-leading institutional equities platform and our world-class private bank. As a top-ranked underwriter of IPOs in the US and globally, with the lead role on many of the most prominent transactions, we’re delighted to partner with the investment industry’s leading retail brokerage.”

The agreement with Credit Suisse builds on Fidelity’s relationship with Kohlberg Kravis Roberts and broader focus on providing Fidelity customers with greater access to the IPO and new issue equity market.